


Interfaith Holiday Woes

by sebastian2017



Series: Jewish Fics [4]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Canon Disabled Character, Christmas, Hanukkah, M/M, Misunderstandings, charles is the cutest goy of them all, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 04:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12809766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: Charles wants nothing more than for his boyfriend's children to like him and when the opportunity arises for him to spend the day with them, he's going to make the absolute best of it. He has the funnest holiday-themed day planned out for them. Save for the part where he's forgotten the part where his possibly-hopefully future stepchildren are Jewish.





	Interfaith Holiday Woes

**Author's Note:**

> cw: food, holiday (christmas and hanukkah) mentions, lmk if you need any more
> 
> I have a personal rule where I refuse for it to be 'the holidays' until I've eaten my thanksgiving turkey  
> so now that I've had my turkey, here's a holiday themed fic to kick off the season

Charles wants his boyfriend’s children to like him. He really, really wants his boyfriend’s children to like him. The three little Lehnsherr’s are Erik’s world and seeing as Charles would very much like to also be a permanent part of that world, he knows that being well liked by the Lehnsherr children is an important part of that. Charles isn’t a jealous lover. He doesn’t think the children are ‘stealing’ away his time away with Erik or resent them for forcing him to share Erik with them. On the contrary, from the few times Charles has met them, he thinks they’re lovely, wonderful little ones and he can understand why Erik would put them above anyone else. They are still, however, the most intimidating factor in Charles’ relationship with Erik. 

 

Charles loves children. He really does. At least… in theory he does. The main problem is that he spends remarkably little time around any children at all. He’s met the Lehnsherr children a few times, but mostly just in passing. The only child he actually interacts with regularly is his little nephew Kurt, but Kurt is barely two at the moment, while the twins are eight and Lorna is eleven. Charles may be no expert in children, but he knows enough to know that there’s a big difference between two and eight or eleven. Kurt is easy. A few funny faces, a couple of building blocks, and maybe the latest episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and he’s wholly entertained. Babysitting Kurt is an absolute breeze, even for Charles. But the Lehnsherr children? They’re at an age where they’re basically already basically people, just tinier! He doubts keeping them entertained would be as simple as it is Kurt and despite how badly he wants to get to know them better - probably, to be entirely honest, because of that - Charles lives with a constant underlying fear of the day Erik will call him in to look after his children or spend a proper day with them. 

 

So, of course, trust that to happen just as the school semester hits its busiest point. 

 

Charles is sitting amidst what feels like an endless pile of essays when his phone rings. He strongly considers just ignoring it, but he spots Erik’s name on the screen and annoyance turns to fondness. He sets aside his pen and picks up with a cheerful, “Hello?” 

 

In return, he just gets Erik frazzled on the other line. “Charles, I wouldn’t call so last minute if it wasn’t an emergency.” 

 

“Erik, are you all right? What’s wrong?” Charles is already wheeling away from his desk and halfway to the door. 

 

“I got called into work today for that big project I’ve been working on and the kids’ usual sitter can’t make it in today. I was wondering if you’d be willing to watch over them for the day,” he explains. “Sorry, I suppose I should have probably started with that.” 

 

Charles glances at the pile of essays that still need grading and the final exam that still needs creating, but this is Erik. He could never say no to Erik and certainly not a chance to grow closer to his children, no matter how much they intimidate him. “Of course I’ll look after them, darling. I can be at your place in a half hour or so. How long do you suppose it’ll be?” 

 

“I should be back from work at seven or so. Will that be all right?” Erik asks. 

 

Charles looks at his watch. It’s just past eleven now. Surely Charles can keep three kids entertained slash alive for eight hours. “Of course. I’ll see you soon.” 

 

“Perfect. Thank you, Liebling.” 

  
  
  


                                                                                                                        ------

 

Charles can do this. He can do this. He can take care of the Lehnsherr children for the day and be perfectly fine and successful and well-liked by the trio. He has a PhD, he’s a world renowned professor at Columbia, he spends his days alternating between rowdy university students and groundbreaking research. He can handle three elementary school aged children. That’s the mantra Charles chants to himself as he wheels himself out of the lift and to the door of Erik’s flat. He only has to knock twice before there’s a bustle of activity from behind the door. Charles recognizes the running around and yelling of the children, and of course Erik’s ever present scolding that they calm down. Charles can’t help but feel a bit fond from it all. 

 

Erik comes to the door a minute later, looking a bit frazzled as he opens it, but undeniably relieved to see Charles standing there. “I’m glad you could make it. The kids all finished their lunch and I left money on the counter for pizza, so you don’t have to worry about that. I have to run to the office, but you’ll be all right with the kids from here on out, right?” 

 

“Of course, Erik,” Charles promises. He wheels himself in and is immediately greeted by the warm, bustling minds of the children. No matter how good Charles is at blocking out people’s thoughts, children’s minds always have too much of a spark to completely ignore. Charles brings his chair to a stop in the living room and smiles at the Lehnsherr kids’ way. “We’re going to have a great day between us, won’t we?”

 

“Charles!” Pietro runs over and skids to a stop in front of him, sliding on his socked feet. “Yes, we are! We’re gonna have sooo much fun.” 

 

‘Yeah, you can go now, Papa,” Lorna agrees, placing her hands on her father’s back and steering him towards the door. 

 

Charles laughs, winking at Erik. “Yeah, Papa, you can go now. You’ve been replaced.” 

 

“All, right, all right.” Erik pries away from Lorna’s pushing so he can give Charles a quick kiss and pull all three kids into a hug. “I’ll be back by seven. You three be good for Charles. I don’t want to hear any complaints when I get back.” 

 

“You won’t, Papa. Now go, go. Our day can’t officially start if you haven’t left yet,” Wanda agrees. 

 

Erik relents and gives yet another round of kisses and hugs before finally grabbing his briefcase and leaving. Charles watches him walk out, staring at the door for a moment longer after it shurts. Right. Okay. Now it’s just him and the children. Officially starting their day together. It’s fine. He’s fine. He can do this. He can look over three energetic little mutants for a few hours. Why not? Erik does it everyday, it can’t be that hard. 

 

Charles turns in his chair to look at the children, who are staring right back at him. Seems that they’re in a sort of standoff. The children wondering how their father’s boyfriend will play out to be on a day alone, Charles wondering how he’s going to manage to make sure the kids like him even after a day. To begin with, Charles reckons he should think of something for all of them to do together. It’ll make a better impression if they do something today as opposed to Charles just plopping them down onto the television, right? Charles thinks that makes sense. He tries to think back to what sort of things he’d do at this age for fun and upon remembering that he hadn’t quite been into the same things as most normal children, tries to remember what Raven or his classmates had done. 

 

“All right, so, who wants to go to the park?” Charles offers. 

 

It seems this is the right thing to say, because just a moment later, there’s a flurry as the children all run to their rooms to get sneakers and balls and anything else a child could possibly want for a visit to the park. Perfect! Charles is off to a good start. He can do this kid thing, no doubt about it. He wheels himself toward the door and grabs their coats and scarfs and hats. Erik would kill him if he lets them go outside without being properly warm. When they come back out of their rooms, Charles lines them up near the door as he distributes their coats. 

 

“All right, everybody bundle up. Wouldn’t want anyone to catch a chill!” he says. 

 

“I wish we didn’t have to wear so much when it starts getting old out,” Pietro grumbles, sighing as he grabs his things from Charles. A whirlwind of motion and a blink of an eye later, Pietro’s all dressed in his warm things. “Wanda, I wish you could use your magic to make it all warm for us.” 

 

Wanda nods eagerly as she wraps up her little pink scarf. “That would make things so easy!” 

 

“It would be very easy indeed, but until the day that happens, we’ll just keep bundling up, okay?” Charles says, grabbing the house keys and tucking them away in his pocket before he opens the door and ushers the children out to the hallway. 

 

They’re not overly wild, thankfully, so it’s easy enough to get them into the elevator and out onto the street without them running off. There’s a park nearby, so they start walking in that direction. It’s a bit slower than the kids are used to going with their father, what with Charles having to maneuver about with his wheelchair, but regardless, they don’t complain. At one moment, when they’re stopped and waiting at a crosswalk, Wanda peers at Charles curiously and places her hands on the armrest of his chair to lean up closer to him.

 

“Charles, can I ride with you the rest of the way?” she asks sweetly. 

 

“Wanda,” Lorna whines, practically oozing with pre-teen indignation. “You can’t ask things like that. It’s rude!” 

 

“Oh, it’s really quite fine, Lorna, don’t you worry,” Charles soothes. He smiles kindly down at Wanda and pats his lap. “Of course you can. Hop on, just be careful not to prod at the controls, okay? Wouldn’t want to send us into the street with all the cars!” 

 

Wanda nods quickly and climbs up onto Charles’ lap so she can be towed along for the rest of the ride. Not two seconds after she’s sat down, Pietro decides his sister has the right idea and hops along with her for the ride. Lorna still looks rather mortified at her little siblings, but doesn’t complain any further. Charles for one is overjoyed to let the twins ride along in his lap for the park, even if it does make the chair feel a bit more cramped. This is surely a good sign, no? It must mean they like him!

 

As they approach the park, Charles spots Christmas decorations that have already been put up and there’s a smattering of decorated evergreens throughout the place. Upon seeing those, another idea dawns in Charles. Sure, a day in the park is fun all on its own, but Charles wants to make sure the day is also a little more memorable. Give it a bit of flare for the kids. Christmas season is just about rolling in so surely their day can do with a bit of Christmas spirit. Charles gllances at Lorna, trying to deliberate whether eleven is too old to still believe in Santa Claus. He decides that no, it probably isn’t, and he ventures forward with the plans he’s making in his head. 

 

As they pull up towards a jungle gym, Charles grins at the kids. “What do you say if after playing for a bit, we head out to Macy’s and get your picture taken with Santa Claus?” 

 

“With Santa Claus? Uh…” Pietro glances over at Wanda, who looks at him just as strangely, and then up at Lorna, who just shrugs. He nods, slowly. “Yeah. Sure. After playing.” 

 

It’s a bit of an odd response, but Charles blames it on lingering awkwardness of their first day together without Erik around as a buffer. He could easily dip into their minds to confirm it or not, but Charles is very serious about not going into people’s minds without their consent. Certainly not when the people in question are his boyfriend’s children. He rolls up to a bench from where he can see the jungle gym and parks his chair next to it. The twins climb off his lap and all three of them run off to play. 

 

Charles leans back and watches them fondly. He’d never managed to have kids between his research and his accident, but he’s undeniably fond of them. Certainly, while he rarely ponders on ‘what ifs’, wondering how his life would be different if he’d made it to having kids is one of the thoughts that manages to pop up on occasion. That seems to be a thing of the past for him, but these three kids are as close as he’ll get and for that, he’s infinitely happy and grateful. He snaps a few pictures of them as they play, to send to Erik. He’s sure Erik will be happy to see them, even if he’s caught up in the latest revolutionary engineering feat being dreamt up at Stark Industries. 

 

The children play for a while, and Charles watches them the whole time and marvels at how much energy they have. Charles will never not be impressed at the endless fountain of energy children seem to be. Finally, when they tire of running and jumping and climbing, Charles helps them bundle up once more and leads the way down to the subway so they can make their way to Herald Square. The children act only slightly less odd at the mention of Santa Claus this time around, and Lorna changes the subject very quickly. Perhaps they’re too old to believe in Santa Claus after all, Charles wonders. But no, surely, if that was the case, they would have said something by now. Maybe this is just something they do with Erik every year and feel that Charles is overstepping by being the one to take them. Whatever the reason, they’re already on their way, so Charles marches on. 

 

Going through the subway is hard enough without also shepherding along three children, but they manage. It helps that the Lehnsherrs are superbly well behaved. When they finally arrive at the and start making their way upstairs to where all the Christmas things are, the three kids are still in one piece and under Charles’ care. That feels like a win to him. When they exit the elevator onto Santaland, Pietro lets out an amused snort. 

 

“It looks like someone vomited Christmas in here,” he says, glancing at his sisters. 

 

Lorna laughs, bumping shoulders with her brother as she walks next to him. “It does. Christmas overload all over and it’s still the first week of December.”

 

“Oh, I like it! I think the spirit of the season is absolutely lovely. It can’t start early enough if you ask me,” Charles says, cheerful as he guides them in the right direction towards the line for Santa. “And besides, the letters need enough time to get to him so the elves can gather up all the gifts.”

 

“Right. The letters. Because it takes a long time to get up to… the North Pole,” Lorna agrees.

 

Wanda nods, glancing at her siblings. “And not everyone has Santa’s magic… sled.”

 

“Exactly. Have you three written your letters to Santa yet?” Charles asks, grinning at them as they inch along in the line. 

 

“Um…. No. No, Charles, we haven’t,” Pietro says, shaking his head.

 

“Then I know what we’re doing once we get out of here!” Charles exclaims. “We have to get those letters out if you want them delivered to the North Pole in time for Christmas.” 

 

“Yeah. Of course. We’ll write our letters with you after we get our picture with Santa Claus,” Lorna promises. She glances at her siblings, who immediately nod along with her.

 

Charles grins, thinking nothing of their strange behavior. They kept on with their idle chatter along the line, the siblings joking mostly amongst themselves and on occasion, Charles trying to pick up some conversation with them about school or friends or anything at all, so long as it helps him in his endeavor to grow a bit closer to them. He can’t have Erik’s kids like him if they hardly know each other at all. They were amenable to it all, thankfully, even if conversation with their father’s boyfriend in the line for Santa Claus in the middle of a Macy’s is bound to be a little awkward. 

 

When they get to the front of the line, Charles encourages to go and tell Santa what they want for Christmas, and then to sit and smile for the camera. Charles snaps a few pictures as well, grinning brightly. Oh, these are all such lovely pictures of the kids. He’s sure Erik’s going to love them. Maybe he can get them printed up and framed as a present for him. He’s sure Erik would love to have those prints up in the house. By the time they’re heading away from Santa once more, Charles has the whole thing planned out in his head. He’s excited for it now. 

 

As they wheel around the floor for a while longer, to take in the decorations, Charles grins at the children. “When we get back to your flat, we’ll order a pizza for dinner and write letters to Santa so we can mail them up to the North Pole as soon as possible. How does that sound?” 

 

“Ooh, cheese pizza is my favorite. Can we get cheese, Charles?” Pietro asks, grinning at the prospect. 

 

“Of course, of course!” Charles nods, happy that they’re excited about the rest of the afternoon’s plans. 

 

A few hours later, they’re back in Erik’s apartment, with pizza spread out amongst them and the letters all written and tucked away in envelopes addressed to the North Pole. When Charles had set out paper and sparkly pens for them to write, they’d exchanged odd glances again and had even shared a few giggles amongst themselves while writing, but Charles couldn’t hear what they were whispering to each other about, so he could only assume they were just getting very excited as they dreamt up possible Christmas gifts. Kids got awfully excited about Christmas, Charles knew that much! Even little Kurt was eager for it and he was hardly old enough to understand any of it. 

 

When the door opens to announce Erik’s arrival, the children are all sat in front of the television with their cartoons playing while they idly munched on pizza. Pietro is up and hugging Erik’s legs in a flash, though. “Papa!” he cries. “You’re back!” 

 

“Yes, I am!” Erik laughs, leaning down to pick him up and settle him on his waist. “I missed you all today. How was your day with Charles?” 

 

Pietro glances at his sisters and then nods. “Yeah, it was cool.” 

“I’m glad to hear it. You’ll have to tell me all about it.” he says, walking to the couch where the girls are. He sets Pietro down and gives the girls hugs and kisses before going to greet Charles as well. 

 

Charles smiles, leaning up as far as he can to give Erik a quick kiss. Small enough so the kids won’t complain. “Glad to see you back home from work, darling. The kids and I missed you all day.” 

 

“I’m sure you hardly spared me a thought with how much fun you probably had. What did you all get up to?” he asks, hanging up his coat so he can go sit down in one of the arm chairs. 

 

“It was lots of fun! We went to the park and after, we got to meet Santa Claus and the kids all wrote their letters. They’re in envelopes on the kitchen, ready to get shipped off to the North Pole tomorrow!” Charles grins, all happy with what they’d accomplished in the day. 

 

Erik frowns minutely and glances at the children. All three of them shake their heads viciously and now Charles is a little more confused as to what that could be all about. Had they not had fun today? Had Charles done something wrong? Now he’s starting to worry just a bit. But Erik just continues looking at Charles a bit funny. “Christmas stuff, huh? With Santa Claus? That big red guy that brings presents on the 24th or something?” 

 

“Well… yes, of course. Who else, Erik?” Charles nods, frowning as he looks at the kids, who are sitting with mortified looks on their faces. 

 

“Right.” Erik clears his throat, pausing for a moment before he continues. “And the kids wrote letters to him as well?” 

 

“Yes, like I said, they’re on the kitchen counter.” 

 

“Okay, fun. That’s.... Fun.” 

 

“Erik, what’s wrong? Why are you all acting so weird?” 

 

“Charles, darling, have you forgotten we’re Jewish? We’re really, very, immensely Jewish.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

“Yes, and, well, I’m not quite sure how to put it, but we celebrate Hanukkah this time of year. That’s what the children have always celebrated, never Christmas. And, uh, well, the children have never believed in Santa Claus.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

“Papa!” Lorna whines, sighing. “We were just fine pretending!” 

 

“We didn’t wanna make him feel bad!” Pietro agrees. 

 

“You’re the worst boyfriend ever, Papa,” Wanda grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. 

 

This…. This actually makes a lot of sense now that Charles thinks of it. Certainly, it explains why the children had been acting so strangely all day long. Truthfully, he feels a bit ridiculous now for not having thought of it earlier. It’s quite obvious now that it’s been explained. He knows Erik is Jewish, of course he does, he just supposes he’d been so excited with his little plan, he’d forgotten to connect the dots. “So you kids were just pretending all day long?” 

 

“Well…. Sort of, yeah,” Lorna admits, sighing. 

 

“Oh. I’m sorry. I suppose I must have seemed quite ridiculous to all of you,” Charles apologizes. “I’m sorry for wasting your day dragging you along to do all of that.”

 

“No! We had fun, Charles! We had lots of fun” Wanda jumps over onto his lap again and wraps her arms around his shoulders to hug him. Briefly, she glares at her father. “You made Charles sad, Papa! The  _ worst  _ boyfriend ever.” 

 

“Of course I am. Sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sure the kids had a fantastic time on their day out regardless,” Erik says, leaning over to kiss Charles’ cheek as an apology. 

 

Pietro nods quickly, going to join his sister on Charles’ lap, making it feel crowded once more. “We did, we really did! It was kinda weird, but it was lots of fun.” 

 

“Well, as long as you three had fun, I suppose that’s all that matters,” Charles says, trying to shed some of the embarrassment as he just focuses on hugging the kids on his lap. 

 

“I suppose this really just means we’ll have to bring you to spend the evening with us again when Hanukkah starts so we can put you through some Jewish education,” Erik decides, smirking over at Charles as he’s practically crushed under the children. 

 

“Oh, I’d be absolutely honored to come on by and celebrate the holiday with you. And the second time around, make sure to be celebrating the right one!” 

**Author's Note:**

> i love charles i really do
> 
> if this is well received and I scrounge up the motivation, maybe I'll write the sequel of them actually spending hanukkah together lol
> 
> for questions, prompts, or chatting I can be found on tumblr at [sebbym17](http://sebbym17.tumblr.com/)


End file.
